Unpacking assessment literacy: developing a questionnaire on aspects of assessment literacy teachers consider important

Assessment literacy is an important part of teachers’ competence because teachers rely on assessments to gather information about students’ performance. It is increasingly understood as a dynamic and context-dependent social process. Within this process, teachers’ conceptions serve as filters that influence how assessment literacy is enacted. Consequently, gaining insight into what teachers consider important for assessment literacy in practice becomes imperative. However, no instrument has yet been available to explore which aspects teachers value for assessment literacy in practice. In this study, a questionnaire was developed and validated among 510 Dutch teachers in higher professional education. The results of the confirmatory factor analyses showed a satisfactory model fit, identifying eight aspects of assessment literacy that higher education teachers consider important in their assessment practice. The scales exhibited good internal consistency reliability. This new questionnaire provides an instrument to explore aspects of assessment literacy that teachers consider important in their assessment practice. The outcomes can offer insight into how assessment literacy is understood as reflected in teachers’ assessment practices, thereby informing the design of professional development that is responsive to their practices.